Judd Brackett’s departure from Vancouver last month was one that was in the public eye much more than usual when it comes to head scouts moving on. Brackett indicated that his voice didn’t carry as much weight as he thought it should while GM Jim Benning felt he was asking for too much influence while mentioning that Brackett declined a two-year extension offer.
Brackett wasn’t a free agent for long, however, as the Wild announced that they’ve hired him as their new Director of Amateur Scouting. He’ll be tasked with running Minnesota’s draft strategy, a role that he held with Vancouver from 2015 until last month. The term of the deal was not disclosed.
It appears that the Wild weren’t the only team interested in his services as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that Seattle had also been in contact with Brackett as they look to bolster their front office a little more than a year out from their anticipated debut.
Brackett helped Vancouver land several young players of note, some of which have turned into key pieces for the Canucks already in Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Brock Boeser. He also was involved in the selection of 2019 first-round pick Vasili Podkolzin who has considerable upside while Tyler Madden, the key piece of the Tyler Toffoli trade, was also selected under his watch. That should give Minnesota fans some reason for optimism as he shifts his focus now towards trying to build up their prospect pool.
Didn’t take long for him to find work.
Great pickup for an organization that seems to have trouble finding great players in the draft.